Safety closure for containers

ABSTRACT

A safety closure including a base member having a spout, an annular shoulder around the spout, and a peripheral ridge protruding from the shoulder, a cover member having a domed crown with a skirt depending therefrom, a plurality of stacking bosses protruding from the outer surface of the crown and a segmented ring protruding from the inner surface of the crown, and a hinge interconnecting the base member and the cover member and having a weakened portion of reduced cross section adjacent the cover member, the cover member being adapted to be disposed on the base member with the segmented ring engaging a top surface of the spout and a peripheral bottom edge of the skirt captured by the ridge whereby the cover member can be removed from the base member only by depressing the crown to free the peripheral bottom edge.

1 United States Patent 1191 Mack Sept. 11, 1973 SAFETY CLOSURE FORCONTAINERS I Primary Examiner-Samuel F. Coleman [75] Inventor Frank']Mack 1am! e l Assistant Examiner-Thomas E. Kocovsky Assigneel TheBracket p y Cincinnati, Attorney-David J. Mugford, Irving Holtzman,George Q A. Mentis, Ralph D. Gelling and Marvin B. Rosenberg [22] Filed:May 14, 1971 21 Appl. No.: 143,351 [57] ABSTRACT A safety closureincluding a base member having a [52] us. c1 222/143, 21s/9,'220/6o A,P" f l 5pm", and a 222/562 rlpheral ridge protruding from the shoulder,a cover member having a domed crown with a skirt depending [51] Int. Cl865d 43/10 h f l f t b 581 Field of Search 220/385, 60 A; z "2 P "f 3Pr"tru :g

215/9 41; 222/143 569, 543 570, 562 rom e ou er su ace 0 e crown an asegmen e ring protruding from the mner surface of the crown, 1 1 2:13;;212211135211322; a tiizzzgsi'zizzzfiii U STATES PATENTS duced crosssection adjacent the cover member, the Turner A cover member beingadapted to disposed on the 3,625,386- 12 1971 s haefer 215/9 base memberwith the Segmented ring engaging a top l fi li fi a n surface of thespout and a peripheral bottom edge of 3 398 848 8l968 02:21:11 215/9 theskirt captured by the ridge whereby the cover mem- 3:623:622 11 1971Sullivan 222 543 can be rammed mm the base member by FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS I 1,463,789 0/1966 France pressing the crown to free theperipheral bottom edge.

14 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures -Patented Sept. 11, 1973 3,758,000

//V VENTO/Z, FFAWK J fl/ACK #rramma SAFETY CLOSURE FOR CONTAINERSBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The presentinvention pertains to safety closures for containers and, moreparticularly, to such closures which cannot easily be opened by childrenor those uninstructed in the method of opening and which are not subjectto accidental opening.

2. Dicussion of the Prior Art There is a great need for simple andinexpensive closures which are adaptable for mass production and whichcannot be easily opened by'children or those without prior knowledge asto the manner in which such closures are opened and are not subject toaccidental opening. The requirement for such safety closures is ofextreme importance for use with containers for volatile or otherwiseharmful products in that children must be prevented from access to suchproducts and access to such products and exposure of such products dueto accidental opening of such closures must be prevented.

in the past, manysafety closures have been proposed; however, to datenone of the proposed safety closures have satisfied both therequirements of high safety in theprevention of accidental opening andthe prevention of opening by children as well as being economicallymanufactured. Children will normally use all availablemeans to open acontainer; and accordingly, an acceptable safety closure must beconstructed to prevent opening by means of sharp objects used to piercethe closure or to pry the closure loose aswell as to prevent opening byutilizing the teeth to grip-the closure to pry it open or by biting withthe sharp edge of the teeth to open the closure. Accidental opening mayoccur due to pressure on the closures during stacking for storage andshipment as well as by dropping the containers on hard surfaces orcatching a portion of the closure on a sharp object.

U. S. Pat. Nos. 3,398,848, 3,434,614 and 3,484,016 are illustrative ofprior art attempts toprovide a safety closure meeting the abovementioned requirements; however, while the closures of these patents allrequire the application of pressure in order to flex a portion of theclosure and thereby make the opening thereof more difficult forchildren, none of these closures have provided a viable safety closuredue primarily to the ease with which a child can'open the safety closureto gain access to the contents of the container. That is, for instance,while depressing the top of the closure in the prescribed manner ofopening the closures of these patents, the closures can be pried off thecontainer either by the use of a sharp object or by the use of teeth togrip or bite the closure.

,The safety closure of the present invention constitutes animprovementover the closure disclosed in US Pat. No. 3,484,0l6in thatthe closure of this patent has the disadvantages of being subject tobeing pried open by means of a sharp object, and of being opened bymeans of gripping or biting the top member with the teeth particularlyin the area adjacent the protruding curved part of the bottom memberaround which the skirt of the top member extends. Another disadvantageof the closure of this patent is that containers utilizing the closurescannot be safely stacked upon each other due to the possibility ofaccidental opening caused by pressure on the top member.

The provision of stacking strength for the closure while not materiallyincreasing the pressure required to open the closure presents a problemthat must be solved in order to provide a viable safety closure. Untilthe'present, however, this problem has not been adequately overcome;and, accordingly, prior art safety 1 closures are deficient in thisrespect.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION tom edge for the skirt, the cover member beingdisposed on the base member with the ridge capturing the peripheralbottom edge of the skirt.

Another object of the present invention is to utilize a ridge extendingaround a base member to capture the peripheral edge of a flexible covermember in order to prevent access to the peripheral edge of the covermember by teeth or sharp objects.

A further object of the present invention is to interconnect a covermember and a base member of a safety closure with a hinge having aweakened portion of reduced cross section such that the hinge will breakif an attempt is made to utilize the hinge as a means of opening thesafety closure.

The present invention has another object in the provision of a safetyclosure having an interface between a'cover member that is substantiallyinaccessible to teeth or a sharp object.

Another object of the present invention is. the use of discontinuousrings or protrusions to provide stacking strength without'undulyincreasing rigidity.

A further object of the present invention is to align the protrusionsfrom outer and inner surfaces of a crown of a cover member of a safetyclosure in order to prevent cantilevered loads and the existence ofbending moments.

The present invention has another object in that the skirt and crown ofa cover member of a safety closure have a smooth rounded or curvedconfiguration to render gripping thereof difficult.

Yet a further object of the present invention is to reduce the gapbetween the outer edges of a cover member and the peripheral rim of abase member of the safety closure to a minimum.

Another object of the present invention is to utilize a resilient hingeto interconnect a base member and a cover member of a safety closure totether the cover member to the base member and resiliently urge thecover member away from the base member to facilitate opening thereof.

Some of the advantages of the present invention over the prior art arethat the safety closure of the present invention cannot practically beopened with the use of teeth or a sharp object, that the safety closurehas substantial stacking strength without requiring undue force foropening, and that the cover member of the safety closure is tethered tothe base member by a hinge without providing a means for opening thesafety closure.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following'description of the preferred embodimenttaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is across section of a safetyclosure according to the present invention in a closed state.

FIG. 2 is a cross section of the safety closure of FIG.

' 1 during opening.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As illustrated in FIGS. 1through 5, the safety closure of the present invention includes a basemember 10, a cover member 12 and a hinge 14 interconnecting the basemember and the cover member. Base member is adapted to engage the mouthof a container; however, base member 10 can be integrally formed at themouth of a container provided the configuration of the base memberpermits the required engagement with the cover member 12 to inhibitopening of the safety closure other than in the prescribed manner.

Base member 10 has a cylindrical neck .16 with a frustro-conical innersurface in order to facilitate dispensing of the container contents.Neck 16 has a beveled bottom edge 18 which extends outwardly to definewith an annular flange 20, an annular recess 22 which is adaptedto-receive the mouth of a container, as illustrated in FIG. 6. Thebeveled configuration of edge 18 permits easy insertion of the basemember 10 into the container in that the diameter of the pointed bottomof edge 18 is less than the diameter of the mouth of the container suchthat pressure applied to the base member 10 will permit the neck 16 tosnap into the container with the edge of the mouth engaged within recessNeck 16 terminates at an annular shoulder 24 which extends substantiallytransversely thereto and has an annular ridge 26 protruding therefromaround the outer perimeter thereof. Ridge 26 has an inner surface 28extending upwardly and slightly inward such that the angle between innersurface 28 and shoulder 24 is less than a right angle, and the outersurface 29 of ridge 26 is smoothly round or arcuate such that the neck16 joins with the outer surface 29 in a substantially tangentialrelationship. Shoulder 24 terminates at the top surface of a spout 30which has a side wall 32 extending upwardly and outwardly at an angle ofapproximately 65 from shoulder 24. Side wall 32 is rounded to an outerperipheral rim 33 to join an annular top surface 34 of the spout whichtop surface slopes slightly downwardly at an angle of about 7 to acentrally disposed bore 36 which communicates with the hollow areadefined by neck 16. A detachable diaphragm 38 is attached within bore36, and a leg 40 extends upwardly from diaphragm 38 and has a lengthsufficient to protrude from the spout 30.

Cover member 12 has a domed crown 42 with three equally spaced stackingprotrusions or bosses 44, 46 and 48 extending upwardly from the outersurface thereof at positions offset from the center. The bosses 44, 46and 48 are relatively thick and extend above the upper-most portion ofcrown 42 such that when a container is stacked on the safety closure thebottom of the container will not engage the crown. A segmented ring 50extends from the inner surface of crown 42 in alignment with bosses 44,46 and 48, and ring 50 has a diameter so as to engage top surface 34 ofspout 30. Cover member 12 has an annular skirt 52 depending from crown42 and the outer surface of skirt 52 terminates at the pointed bottomedge 54 while the inner surface of the skirt has an arcuateconfiguration to define a gripping edge 56 and a weakened area orflexing portion of reduced cross-section 58. Bottom edge 54 and grippingedge 56 are interconnected by a conical surface 60 to form a bottomperipheral edge for skirt 52. Concentrically disposed within segmentedring 50 is an annular recess 62 which defines a central portion for thecrown 42. While cover member 12 has been described as having a crown 42and a skirt 52 depending therefrom, it will be appreciated that thecrown and skirt are integrally formed with a smoothly roundedconfiguration, such as a portion of the outer surface of a sphere.

Hinge 14 includes a strip 64 attached to base member 10 adjacent ridge26 and having a rectangular crosssection. Strip 64 is angularly widenedat 66 and has a recess 68 therein to define a weakened portion 70 ofreduced cross section attached to and contiguous with cover member 12.

The base member 10, cover member 12, and hinge l4'are preferablyintegrally formed of a flexible, resilient, plastic material such aspolyethylene. The walls of base member 10 are relatively thick andrigid; however, hinge 14, crown 42 and flexing portion 58 are relativelythin to permit flexing thereof as will be appreciated from the followingdescription of the use of the safety closure.

The safety closure is illustrated in a closed state in FIG. 1 with covermember 12 disposed on base member 10 such that ring 50 abuts top surface34 of spout 30 and the bottom peripheral edge of skirt 52 is captured byridge 26. That is, edge 54 of the skirt abuts ridge 26, and the bottomperipheral edge has a thickness such that gripping edge 56 engages theside wall 32 of spout 30. Flexing portion 58 is positioned so as tosurround the outer peripheral rim 33 of spout 30, and hinge 14 isdoubled upon itself to resiliently urge cover member 12 away from basemember 10.

With the safety closure in the closed state, the capturing of the bottomperipheral edge of skirt 52 by ridge 26 renders the interface of theedge with the base member inaccessible to sharp objects or teeth therebypreventing the cover member from being pried off the base member, andthe smoothly rounded configuration of the cover member renders grippingthereof extremely difficult, even with teeth or by biting. Since thebottom peripheral edge of the skirt 52 has a thickness to engage boththe ridge 26 and the side wall 32 of the spout, even if the cover membercould be gripped, it could not be collapsed by an external force. If anattempt is made to use hinge 14 to remove the cover member from the basemember either by prying or by pulling on the hinge, weakened portion 58will break;

and, since weakened portion 58 is contiguous with cover member 10, therewill no protrusion remaining which could be utilized to lift the covermember from the base member. Thus, hinge 14 provides the function ofcapturing or tethering cover member 12 to base member without providingany means for opening the safety closure in other than the prescribedmanner.

In order to open the safety closure the central portion of crown 42defined by recess 62 is depressed such as by use of the thumb, and thisdepression or flexing of the crown causes a flexing of skirt 52 about afulcrum provided by abutment of segmented ring 50 with the top surface34 of spout 30 as illustrated'in FIG. 2. The flexing of skirt 52releases or frees the bottom peripheral edge of the skirt frorn ridge26; and, thus, the cover member 12 is free to move away from base member10. Once the cover member has been depressed, as illustrated in FIG. 2,the cover member moves away from the base member due to the resilienturging of hinge 14 to expose leg 40 and diaphragm 3 8, and the diaphragmmay be removed from theclosure by applying an upward force on leg 40 topermit dispensing of the contents of the container. The cover member 12is tethered to the base member 10, as illustrated in FIGS. 3

- and inexpensive integral manufacture.

and 5; and, in order to return the safety closure to the closed state,the cover member 12 is merely placed over the spout and snapped intoplace by pressure around the outer edges thereof.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, when a container is stacked on anothercontainer utilizing the safety closure of the present invention, thebottom of the upper container engages the upper surface of bosses 44, 46and 48 and will be spaced from the upper portion of crown 42 to therebyprevent the application of pressure thereto. Bosses 44, 46 and 48effectively form a discontinuous ring, and the spacing therebetween issufficient to accommodate a thumb nail during opening of the safetyclosure by depression of the crown 42.

' Segmented ring 50 similarly effectively defines a discontinuous ringformed of a plurality of discrete rib or protrusion segments, and thestacking bosses are aligned with the segments of ring 50 as illustratedin FIGS. 1 and 3 so as to provide thickened portions for the covermember having substantial stacking strength while preventingcantilevered loads and bending moments. The spacing between theprotrusions of ring 50 and between the stacking bosses'decreases' therigidity of the cover member in order to decrease the force required todepress the cover member such that stacking strength is provided whilemaintaining flexibility.

The 7 slope of the top surface 34 of the spout permits the configurationof the cover member to be shallow and difficult to grip in that therelation between outer peripheral rim 33, the slope of top surface 34and the angle of side wall 32 reduce the gap between ring 50 andperipheral rim 33 to a minimum to thereby prevent any gripping forcefrom being applied to this area of the cover member so as to flex thebottom peripheral edge of the skirt and free the cover member.

From the above it will be appreciated that the present inventionprovides a safety closure which is extremely difficult to open otherthan in the prescribed manner, and more particularly, cannot be openedby means of sharp objects or teeth to thereby prevent the opening of thesafety closure by children. A test of the safety closure of the presentinvention under proposed formal FDA protocol provided the results thatonly 1 percent Inasmuch as the present invention is subject to manyvariations, modifications and changes in detail, it is intended that allmatter above described or shown in the drawing be interpreted asillustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

l. A safety closure for a container comprising a base member having anupstanding spout with annular abutment means disposed therearound; and acover member made of flexible material and having a crown, a skirtdepending from said crown, a pcripheral bottom edge for said skirt,fulcrum means extending internally from said crown and stackingprotrusion means extending externally from said crown in alignment withsaid fulcrum means;

. said cover member being disposed on said base member with saidperipheral bottom edge of said skirt engaging said annular abutmentmeans and said fulcrum means engaging said spout, said cover memberbeingremovable from said base member by depressing said crown todisengage said peripheral bottom edge of said skirt; wherein saidfulcrum means includes a ring of discrete segments protruding from theinner surface of said crown and said stacking protrusion means includinga plurality of spaced bosses extending from the outer surface of saidcrown and aligned with said ring of discrete segments.

2. The safety closure as recited in claim 1 wherein said inner surfaceof said crown has an annular recess therein concentric with and insidesaid ring.

3. A safety closure for a container comprising a base member having aneck and an upstanding spout, a shoulder extending outwardly from saidspout, and a ridge protruding from said shoulder having an inner and anouter surface, said inner surface extending upwardly and inwardly suchthat the angle between the inner surface and the shoulder is less than aright angle, said outer surface of said ridge being smoothly round orarcuate such that the neck joins with the outer surface in asubstantially tangential relationship; and a cover member having acrown, a skirt depending from said crown and a peripheral bottom edgefor said skirt, said cover member being disposed on said base memberwith said ridge capturing said peripheral bottom edge of said skirtwhereby said cover member can be removed from said base member bydepressing said crown to free said peripheral bottom edge of said skirt.

4. The safety closure as recited in claim 3 wherein said cover member isintegrally formed of flexible material. I v

5. The safety closure as recited in claim 4 wherein said spout has anannular outer top surface, and said cover member has fulcrum meansextending internally therefrom to engage said top surface of said spoutand provide a fulcrum for freeing said peripheral bottom.

edge of said skirt when saidcrown is depressed.

6. The safety closure as recited in claim wherein said spout has acentral bore therein extending through said top surface and said topsurface has an outer peripheral rim and slopes inwardly from said outerperipheral rim to said central bore.

7. The safety closure as recited in claim 5 wherein said crown is domedand has an inner surface and an outer surface, said fulcrum meansincludes a ring protruding from said inner surface, and said covermember includes stacking protrusion means extending outwardly from saidouter surface of said crown in alignment with said ring.

8. The safety closure as recited in claim 7 wherein said ring is formedof a plurality of discrete segments and said stacking protrusion meansincludes a plurality of spaced bosses aligned with said ring segments toprovide areas of substantial thickness.

9. The safety closure as recited in claim 8 wherein said inner surfaceof said crown has an annular recess therein concentric with and insidesaid ring.

10. The safety closure as recited in claim 9 wherein said top surface ofsaid spout has an outer peripheral rim, said shoulder of said basemember extends inwardly of said outer peripheral rim of said top surface11. The safety closure as recited in claim 10 wherein said crown andsaid skirt of said cover member integrally have a smoothly roundedconfiguration.

12. The safety closure as recited in claim 11 wherein said peripheralbottom edge of said skirt has a thickness to abut said side wall of saidspout and said ridge, and said skirt has a flexing portion adjacent saidperipheral bottom edge having a thickness less than the thickness ofsaid peripheral bottom edge, said flexing portion surrounding said outerperipheral rim of said top surface of said spout.

13. The safety closure as recited in claim 12 and further comprising ahinge interconnecting said base member and said cover member, said hingehaving a weakened portion of reduced cross section whereby said hingewill break if utilized to remove said cover member from said base memberwithout depressing said crown.

14. The safety closure as recited in claim 13 wherein said base member,said cover member and said hinge are integrally formed of flexible,resilient material, and said hinge is doubled upon itself to resilientlyurge said cover member away from said base member whereby said covermember is moved away from said base member when said crown is depressed.

1. A safety closure for a container comprising a base member having anupstanding spout with annular abutment means disposed therearound; and acover member made of flexible material and having a crown, a skirtdepending from said crown, a peripheral bottom edge for said skirt,fulcrum means extending internally from said crown and stackingprotrusion means extending externally from said crown in alignment withsaid fulcrum means; said cover member being disposed on said base memberwith said peripheral bottom edge of said skirt engaging said annularabutment means and said fulcrum means engaging said spout, said covermember being removable from said base member by depressing said crown todisengage said peripheral bottom edge of said skirt; wherein saidfulcrum means includes a ring of discretE segments protruding from theinner surface of said crown and said stacking protrusion means includinga plurality of spaced bosses extending from the outer surface of saidcrown and aligned with said ring of discrete segments.
 2. The safetyclosure as recited in claim 1 wherein said inner surface of said crownhas an annular recess therein concentric with and inside said ring.
 3. Asafety closure for a container comprising a base member having a neckand an upstanding spout, a shoulder extending outwardly from said spout,and a ridge protruding from said shoulder having an inner and an outersurface, said inner surface extending upwardly and inwardly such thatthe angle between the inner surface and the shoulder is less than aright angle, said outer surface of said ridge being smoothly round orarcuate such that the neck joins with the outer surface in asubstantially tangential relationship; and a cover member having acrown, a skirt depending from said crown and a peripheral bottom edgefor said skirt, said cover member being disposed on said base memberwith said ridge capturing said peripheral bottom edge of said skirtwhereby said cover member can be removed from said base member bydepressing said crown to free said peripheral bottom edge of said skirt.4. The safety closure as recited in claim 3 wherein said cover member isintegrally formed of flexible material.
 5. The safety closure as recitedin claim 4 wherein said spout has an annular outer top surface, and saidcover member has fulcrum means extending internally therefrom to engagesaid top surface of said spout and provide a fulcrum for freeing saidperipheral bottom edge of said skirt when said crown is depressed. 6.The safety closure as recited in claim 5 wherein said spout has acentral bore therein extending through said top surface and said topsurface has an outer peripheral rim and slopes inwardly from said outerperipheral rim to said central bore.
 7. The safety closure as recited inclaim 5 wherein said crown is domed and has an inner surface and anouter surface, said fulcrum means includes a ring protruding from saidinner surface, and said cover member includes stacking protrusion meansextending outwardly from said outer surface of said crown in alignmentwith said ring.
 8. The safety closure as recited in claim 7 wherein saidring is formed of a plurality of discrete segments and said stackingprotrusion means includes a plurality of spaced bosses aligned with saidring segments to provide areas of substantial thickness.
 9. The safetyclosure as recited in claim 8 wherein said inner surface of said crownhas an annular recess therein concentric with and inside said ring. 10.The safety closure as recited in claim 9 wherein said top surface ofsaid spout has an outer peripheral rim, said shoulder of said basemember extends inwardly of said outer peripheral rim of said top surfaceof said spout, and said spout includes a side wall extending outwardlyfrom said shoulder to said outer peripheral rim.
 11. The safety closureas recited in claim 10 wherein said crown and said skirt of said covermember integrally have a smoothly rounded configuration.
 12. The safetyclosure as recited in claim 11 wherein said peripheral bottom edge ofsaid skirt has a thickness to abut said side wall of said spout and saidridge, and said skirt has a flexing portion adjacent said peripheralbottom edge having a thickness less than the thickness of saidperipheral bottom edge, said flexing portion surrounding said outerperipheral rim of said top surface of said spout.
 13. The safety closureas recited in claim 12 and further comprising a hinge interconnectingsaid base member and said cover member, said hinge having a weakenedportion of reduced cross section whereby said hinge will break ifutilized to remove said cover member from said base member withoutdepressing said crown.
 14. The safety closure as recited in claim 13wherein said base member, said cover member and said Hinge areintegrally formed of flexible, resilient material, and said hinge isdoubled upon itself to resiliently urge said cover member away from saidbase member whereby said cover member is moved away from said basemember when said crown is depressed.